An Alternative Approach to Israeli Political Commentary

I am off to Russia to visit with the Subbotnik Jews of the former Soviet Union (you can find out more about this intriguing community here), so I won't be posting for the next few days. Please check back on Friday, September 1, when I hope to start re-posting. Thanks.

It has been 10 days now since the UN-mandated cease-fire went into effect in Lebanon, and a key provision of the arrangement remains unfulfilled.

With the media turning its attention elsewhere, the plight of the three Israeli soldiers being held by Hizbullah and Hamas has largely fallen off the radar screen.

That, of course, is both outrageous and completely unacceptable.

It was, after all, the abduction of the soldiers – Gilad Shalit, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev – by Islamist terrorists which sparked the conflict in the first place. And UN Security Council resolution 1701, which brought about the cease-fire, requires the soldiers' speedy return.

More importantly, however, is the human dimension. For the Shalit, Goldwasser and Regev families, the war has not yet ended so long as their loved ones remain in captivity. The uncertainty and doubt they are living with each day can not and should not be allowed to continue.

It is therefore essential that we raise a hue and a cry and demand that pressure be brought to bear on the Lebanese government and the Palestinian Authority to ensure the safe return of Israel's missing servicemen.

With the US and various European nations planning to send millions of dollars to Lebanon to help rebuild the country's infrastructure, there is certainly room to link those funds with the full implementation of the resolution. This lever should be applied forthwith, so that the ongoing nightmare surrounding the fate of the missing soldiers can finally be brought to an end.

Just days after Syria's President spoke openly of "liberating" the Golan Heights by force, a prominent Israeli government minister has now signaled a willingness to surrender to Damascus' demands.

In a thinly-veiled trial balloon aimed at testing public opinion, Israel's Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter said today that he believes that in exchange for peace with Syria, the Jewish state can abandon the Golan.

That's right – Dichter is ready to hand over the commanding heights of the Golan to Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, the same guy who helped to arm, train and finance Hizbullah terrorists in Lebanon.

Why the sudden talk of forging a deal with Syria? The government would have us believe that Israel needs to pry Syria away from its alliance with Iran in order to weaken the Axis of Terror in the region.

That would make sense, except for one small, pesky detail: Syria has no desire, interest or intention of weakening its bond with Teheran.

In fact, the real reason behind the talk of peace with Syria is far more simple: with calls mounting for the establishment of a state commission of inquiry into the failed military operation in Lebanon, the Government is desperate to change the subject. It needs to create the impression that it is on the verge of a historic breakthrough, because that is the only way of staving off demands for its resignation.

And so, it is cynically trying to turn the same Mr. Assad who was behind Hizbullah's attacks on Israelis last week into a potential peace partner this week.

Is this good for the country? Of course not. After the government's Lebanon fiasco left Israel looking weak to its neighbors, they have now compounded the problem by signaling a readiness to retreat in the face of Assad's threats.

What Dichter and others like him have yet to learn is that in the Middle East, raising the flag of surrender only invites further aggression and bloodshed.

With the indecisive conclusion to the fighting in Lebanon, the finger-pointing is now well under way, as Israel's political echelons try to duck responsibility for their abject failure to win the war.

Some have sought to suggest that the reason Israel did not succeed in eviscerating Hizbullah was a lack of intelligence, in effect trying to shift the blame away from Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz and on to the army and the security forces instead.

But as a retired senior US military official has pointed out, the blame for the Lebanon debacle rests squarely Israel's political leadership.

Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney said Mossad knew details three years ago about Hezbollah's Katyusha and other rockets. "They knew what they had," he said. He said Israel's war plan was undermined by political leaders, not by a lack of intelligence. "Israel's plan was that if they were fired upon, they would respond with a [leadership] decapitation program and massive air and ground campaigns into Lebanon," Gen. McInerney said. However, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert did not order the decapitation plan and was slow to carry out the ground campaign. "It was not the intelligence," he said. "There's no question they did not take the heart out of Hezbollah."

So, did the military campaign in Lebanon fail to achieve its objectives? Absolutely.

And who is it that "owns" that failure? Israel's weak-kneed political leadership.

No matter how hard they might try to pin the blame on others, Olmert and Peretz have demonstrated through their inaction where the real lack of intelligence can truly be found.

Irrespective of whether the UN-mandated ceasefire in Lebanon holds up in the coming days, a grave injustice has already been done to the people of the region, and it can not be allowed to stand.

The two main state sponsors of this entire bloody affair – Syria and Iran – have gotten off scot-free despite wreaking havoc and sowing instability throughout the entire Middle East.

UN Security Council Resolution 1701 does not even mention either of these countries, nor does it impose any form of punishment on them for their nefarious actions.

As various observers have already pointed out, the terrorists of Hizbullah are proxies carrying out the will of their paymasters in Damascus and Teheran.

It was the Baathist regime in Syria and the Khomeinist regime in Iran which planned, financed and orchestrated the past month of violence and bloodshed, and they can not, and must not, be permitted to have done so with impunity.

Allowing Bashar al-Assad and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to get away with murder is not only a gross act of injustice – it is also an invitation to these two madmen to connive and scheme still further, and plan future atrocities against Israel and the West.

The value of the piece of paper approved by the UN will presumably become apparent in the coming days.

But of one thing we can already be certain: Assad and Ahmadinejad are surely having a good laugh together, knowing full well that while they may have done the crime, it is someone else entirely that is being forced to pay the price.

Americans and their allies today received a jolting and unpleasant reminder that the war on terror is far from over.

The arrest in Britain of two dozen Islamist terrorists who were plotting to blow up as many as 10 planes sent shudders of fear across the Atlantic, demonstrating once again that the threat posed by Al-Qaeda and its sympathizers remains frighteningly real.

But even as the West breathes a collective sigh of relief that the scheme was thwarted in time, Israeli troops continue to battle Hizbullah terrorists in southern Lebanon, risking their lives on the front lines in defense of freedom and civilization.

And make no mistake – regardless of the theological differences that may exist between the fanatics of Al-Qaeda and Hizbullah, the two terror groups are united in their aim of destroying not only Israel, but America too.

Had the nefarious plot to blow up the planes succeeded, you can be sure that Hizbullah would have cheered the results, just as the followers of Osama Bin-Laden undoubtedly applaud each and every Hizbullah rocket fired against the Jewish state.

The fighting in Lebanon, then, is not just Israel's war, but America and Britain's war, too. It is part and parcel of the global war against Islamic fundamentalist terror – so instead of pressuring Israel to call off its counter-terror campaign, anyone who values liberty should be speaking out in defense of the Jewish state and encouraging it to carry on until victory – and nothing short of victory – is achieved.

The man who sought to protect his buddy Saddam from being toppled from power, has now stepped into the fray in an effort to salvage the terrorists of Hizbullah.

After taking the unusually cooperative step of producing a draft resolution together with the US, Chirac has now back-tracked, insisting that revisions be made to the text in order to satisfy Arab demands.

Speaking on Wednesday after meeting with some of his cabinet ministers, Chirac was critical of the US, saying that it would be "most immoral" not to impose an immediate ceasefire in Lebanon.

"Most immoral"?

Since when is it "immoral" to hunt down terrorists and eliminate the threat they pose to civilization?

Essentially, France wants to try to save Hizbullah by forcing Israel to stop its assault against the terrorist group. Motivated by a desire to please its Arab friends (and business partners), France is once again taking the lead in providing diplomatic cover to terrorists.

Indeed, France has long been one of the main opponents of designating Hizbullah as a terrorist organization and has blocked the EU from doing so.

So, once again, Jacques Chirac has tried to earn a few cheap political points domestically by "standing up" to the US and asserting France's contrarian view – even if it means allying himself diplomatically with the aggressors and the terrorists.

It's not surprising, nor unexpected, but it is disappointing nonetheless. Will the French leadership ever learn?

Diplomacy is pushing full steam ahead in New York, as the members of the United Nations Security Council press forward with efforts to pass a resolution in the coming days regarding the situation in Lebanon.

What the outcome of all this maneuvering will be remains unclear, but of one thing we can all be certain: anything that involves the UN will undoubtedly work against Israel and its interests.

Take, for example, the UN's complete and utter failure to ensure the implementation of its own resolutions regarding Lebanon, such as Security Council resolution 1559. Passed in September 2004, the document stated that the UN was "gravely concerned" by the presence of "armed militias" in Lebanon, and called for "the disbanding and disarmament of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias".

In other words, Hizbullah was supposed to disappear off the map – which, of course, has yet to happen.

Or how about the UN's military presence in southern Lebanon, which is known as UNIFIL (perhaps they should consider changing that to UNIFAIL…). According to its website, UNIFIL was founded in 1978 with three goals in mind: "to confirm Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, restore the international peace and security, and help the Lebanese Government restore its effective authority in the area."

While it did indeed confirm Israel's retreat, it has failed miserably with regard to the other two, and far more important, objectives – and that is why the current conflict is raging anew.

Had UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan devoted his attention in recent years to dismantling Hizbullah, rather than criticizing Israel for defending itself, the people of the region – including the Lebanese – would be a whole lot better off.

Hence, bringing in the UN at this point in order to "solve" the problem is a mistake of colossal proportions. It is essentially rewarding the world organization for its past failures, and inviting it to screw things up all over again.

Peace will come to the area not through another UN resolution, nor an imposed cease-fire.

The only way to achieve stability is to eliminate the source of the instability – and that is (as the UN itself once recognized) none other than the terrorists of Hizbullah.

Waving Hizbullah flags and chanting "Nasrallah, bomb Tel Aviv!", thousands of Palestinians rallied today in Ramallah and Shechem (Nablus) in a show of support for the Lebanese terror group in its conflict with Israel.

In addition, the protesters set American flags on fire (see the photo below), and voiced encouragement to the Iraqi insurgency to continue their attacks on US troops.

The rally in Ramallah was organized by – you guessed it – the Fatah movement, which is headed by PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, and was joined by various other Palestinian organizations and terrorist groups.

Today's protests followed similar demonstrations held in Gaza in recent days, in which Palestinians burned Israeli flags and called on Hizbullah to hit Israel.

Of course, none of this is very surprising – during the first Gulf War back in 1991, Palestinians cheered when Saddam Hussein fired SCUD missiles at Israel, they have celebrated suicide bombing attacks in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem by handing out candy and sweets, and most recently they took to the streets to mourn Iraqi terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi after he was killed by US troops.

But what is surprising is that so many people still just don't learn from all of this, and refuse to accept the fact that the Palestinians are not just foes of Israel, but of the US too.